The Wanderer
by xXDarkDiaXx
Summary: Arthur, Lukas, and Dacian have always been a trio. Now, they want to increase their magical power, but the only way to do so is to find the mysterious "Wanderer" of Verdonnia. - AU (set in the imaginary world of Verdonnia), Magic Trio and OC, Arthur: England, Lukas: Norway, Dacian: Romania- Rated T for minor cursing
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, Himaruya does. Though, there's not much Hetalia in the prologue._

* * *

Verdonnia was a place in which magic flourished. It was common for royalty to hire the best combat mages to protect their power and wealth. It was also common to find common people performing spells to help themselves or others. In this place, magic was accepted with open arms and open heart.

In ancient times, spirits walked beside the humans. Some could be differentiated from the humans, others couldn't. In modern times, spirits weren't as well like. Some of the darker spirits couldn't interact with humans, for they would be killed.

Though, there were some spirits that were still accepted into everyday life. Docile spirits, like those with healing abilities, were allowed into the humans' world. Those who weren't allowed into the human's world lived on the outskirts. Most of the time, those spirits stayed on the outskirts, sometimes entering the human world. There were few exceptions to this 'rule' of Verdonnia.

The Wanderer was one of these exceptions. The Wanderer had no known name, besides 'The Wanderer', and no known physical appearance, besides the fact that the spirit took the form of a human female. This spirit wandered around the living world, interacting with every spirit and creature. The Wanderer could read a person's aura, their magical signature, and help that person grow stronger, both in the physical and magical sense.

Because of this ability, The Wanderer is sought after by many people, each person hoping to become stronger. The Wanderer only helped those that were deemed worthy. The Wanderer would judge people based on what knowledge was obtained on the person during travels with them.

And this, dear reader, is where our story starts. With an interesting trio of friends and The Wanderer.

* * *

_Hello, readers!_

_This is to be my first ongoing fic in some time. Please try to put up with my sporadic updates. If you want to read the version of this story that is a Reader Insert, please go to my DeviantArt account. [Search for Dark-Dia.]_

_I hope that you enjoy this fic!_

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	2. The Beginning

_Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. It belongs to Himaruya._

* * *

Arthur's day started like any other normal day. His traveling companion, Dacian, always woke him up the same way without fail everyday. Sometimes, Arthur wished for Dacian not to wake him up.

"Come on, Arthur! Come on! It's time for you to wake up!" came Dacian's voice. Arthur blearily blinked his green eyes open.

"I'm up. I'm up. Please, get off," Arthur said, trying to push the rather excited strawberry-blonde off of his bed. Dacian smiled at him, showing off his white teeth and the two fang like teeth he possessed.

"Good. Lukas's making breakfast," Dacian said, getting off of Arthur's bed and disappearing out of his room. Arthur groaned and got out of his bed. He walked over to the window and stared outside at the street below. People were bustling about, doing their daily morning activities, as always.

They'd been in this town a couple months, stuck because of the winter. Arthur hated winter. It was too bloody cold for his tastes. He closed the window shades and got changed into clothes appropriate for traveling. He headed down the stairs to the kitchen, where he found Dacian sitting at the table reading a book and Lukas cooking.

"Good morning," he said, sitting down next to Dacian.

"Morning," Lukas replied, putting the eggs he was cooking onto the three plates. He sat down and began eating his eggs. Arthur began to eat his eggs as Dacian put his book down.

"Well, are we leaving before or after midday?" the red-eyed mage asked them as he too began to eat his eggs.

"Preferably before midday. We should be able to reach the next town by sundown if we leave in the next hour or so," Lukas said. Arthur and Dacian nodded their heads.

After they had finished their breakfast, the trio began their last preparations before their departure. Dacian was using his magic to fit all of their spell books into one bag without ruining any of the books, Arthur was cleaning the house one last time and checking to make sure they didn't leave anything anywhere, and Lukas was conversing with his magical friends about the quickest route to get to the next town over and had a map open on the table.

Yes, the three of them were mages. They were well known for being exceptional mages. Arthur used a mixture of black and white magic, Dacian used black magic, and Lukas used elemental magic. All three of them could see and talk to spirits, even those that weren't welcomed into the human world.

Lukas and Dacian had known each other since they were young, and the two of them had met Arthur when passing through his hometown. The three had them had become a trio after that and set out to find 'The Wanderer.'

They had already spent a year looking for 'The Wanderer.' All three of them wanted to become stronger, and, with Lukas's pushing, they decided to look for 'The Wanderer.' Arthur was still unsure, for he didn't know if 'The Wanderer' even existed. Lukas believed that 'The Wanderer' existed, for it was a family tradition for the eldest male mage to search for 'The Wanderer.' Dacian had his own reasons for searching, and that was all he would tell Lukas and Arthur.

After the three of them were ready to go, they left the house and set out on their journey.

* * *

_Here's chapter one! It's not the long, but it's a great opening to this series!_

_I'm going to try to update this every Thursday. At least, I hope that I do._

_~xXDarDiaXX_


	3. Traveling

_I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

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The trio took their first break on the road, at midday, to eat some lunch. As Dacian unpacked the food, Lukas looked at the forest that they would soon be approaching. Arthur put the rest of their supplies next to where he sat on a tree stump.

"Lukas, come join us for some food," Dacian called to their distracted companion as Arthur dug into the food. Lukas nodded and walked back over tot he group. He sat down and took his share of lunch. They proceeded to eat in silence. Arthur took care of the clean up. Then, the three of them went on their merry way.

As the approached the forest, the noise level seemed to drop, as if all the animals had grown quiet. Lukas frowned and stopped. Arthur and Dacian stopped behind him.

"Lukas, what is it?" Dacian inquired after the pale blonde. Lukas's eyebrows furrowed as he stood there. Then, he replied.

"Something feels... wrong... It's hard to explain," Lukas replied quietly, staring into the forest ahead of them. Arthur frowned.

"I also sense something. I just realized it now, but I feel a faint presence," Arthur said. Dacian sighed.

"I obviously have the wrong type of magic for sensing these things. Can we keep moving? Please," Dacian said. Lukas sighed and nodded his head. Then, the three of them continued their trip along the road into the forest.

As they walked through the forest, all three of them were on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary. Lukas led them while Dacian took the rear.

Suddenly, a beast leaped out of the trees and barred their path. It looked like a giant wolf mixed with a bear. It had razor sharp teeth, matted fur, and a crazed look in its eyes.

"I think I just figured out why it's so quiet around here," Dacian said from behind Arthur and Lukas. The beast lunged at Lukas, who jumped out of the way just in time.

"Less talk, more action," Lukas said as Arthur hastily pulled out one of his tomes full of magical spells. The beast lunged at Lukas again, who jumped to avoid the attack. Dacian closed his eyes and focused on a caging spell while Arthur muttered a spell under his breath. Glowing red bars of magic shot up around the beast, creating a cage. The beast hit the cage Dacian made, trying to break it. A second later, green beams of light tied the beast up. The binds were from Arthur, who was standing in the middle of a magic circle that was also glowing green.

"What even is that?" Dacian asked, cautiously approaching the beast, who was struggling against its bonds.

"Something that doesn't belong here," Lukas said, glowing a bright blue, "It doesn't feel natural... It's like it was created by a spell and then let loose..." The others nodded.

Then, something unexpected happened. The beast lunged at Lukas, breaking the magic binding it. Lukas managed to duck away just in time.

"Looks like we can't keep it bound for long. We need another alternative," Arthur called from his magic circle. Lukas and Dacian nodded.

Almost as if it was cued, an arrow flew out of the trees and hit the beast. The beast roared in pain as another couple arrows sunk into its flesh. As suddenly as it had appeared, the beast turned to dust.

"That was anticlimactic," Dacian commented as their attention turned from the now dead beast to the direction from which the arrows had come.

"Somewhat," Arthur muttered under his breath.

"Who's there?" Lukas called out, an unreadable expression on his face. The sound of branches shuddering with weight alerted them to the fact that the archer had been in the trees. Though, when the archer exited the cover of the trees, what they saw was not what they had expected.

* * *

_Here's chapter two, right on schedule._

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	4. The First Encounter

_Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

"I had heard that women were kick-butt in this region, but I didn't realize that they were this good!" Dacian exclaimed. The archer raised her eyebrows. The archer had long, black hair tied back in two pigtails and brownish-gold eyes.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" the archer replied, raising one of her eyebrows. Lukas smacked Dacian.

"I'm sorry about him," Lukas said, "I'm Lukas. He's Dacian, and that over there is Arthur." He pointed to Dacian and Arthur as he introduced them to the archer.

"And I'm Amber. Nice to meet you," the archer replied. She turned to leave.

"Wait! I want to ask you a couple questions!" Arthur exclaimed. Amber turned to look back at the trio of wandering mages.

"Well, hurry up. We should get to the town. It's not safe if we stay in here too long, even with the beast destroyed," she said as she turned on her heel and began walking down the path. The trio followed after her.

After a bit, they exited the forest. In the distance, the sun was beginning to set, and the town was beginning to come into view. They walked in silence for a bit before they reached the town.

"Amber! You're back!" a teenage girl came out from one of the side streets. The archer smiled at the girl.

"I picked up a couple travelers along the way, so I came back. Does your mother have a room or two for us?" Amber asked the teen. She nodded.

"Come on," the girl gestured their hand, and the four of them followed her. She led them to the inn. As the entered, the trio stared at the artwork that had been hung on the wall. The teen conversed quietly with the lady who seemed to run the inn. The woman nodded as if agreeing to something the girl hand said and handed over something to her. The girl nodded and returned to where the trio and the archer were waiting.

"I have two rooms for you four. You can decide how to split yourselves up," the girl said, leading them up the stairs towards the rooms, "I'm Mimi, and here are your rooms." She took two keys out of the envelope the lady had given her and used them to open up two side-by-side rooms. Amber took the keys from Mimi.

"Thank you," the archer said. The trio and Amber entered the rooms as Mimi left.

"Look!" Dacian exclaimed, opening a door, "The rooms are connected!"

"So it seems," Lukas replied, putting his bag down in one of the rooms after he had closed the doors. Amber sat down on one of the beds, removed her quiver from her back, set her bag down, and set her bow gently on the table.

"Now, miss Amber, will you please explain to us what you were doing in the forest?" Arthur inquired after the female.

"I was tracking that beast that attacked the three of you," Amber responded, unstringing her bow.

"Why were you tracking it?" Lukas inquired as Amber began to polish her bow.

"Because it was a magical anomaly," she replied, "and that's all you're getting out of me. It's dinner time. Shall we head out to find some food?"

* * *

_Ha! First appearance of the main OC. I hope that you enjoy it._

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	5. Dinner Time

_Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

Dinner was... an interesting affair, to say in the least.

"Why couldn't we just eat dinner there?" Dacian complained as they walked around the town. The trio was following Amber to a place she said had good food.

"Because Mimi's mom isn't fond of people eating in her establishment. It brings in rodents and other unwanted creatures," Amber replied as she led them to a small restaurant. She pushed opened the door, and a bell jingled. An old man peered from behind the bar.

"Ah, Amber, come for some food?" the old man inquired of her as the trio followed her inside. "I see you have guests."

"Yeah. I picked them up while traveling. Can we just sit up at the bar tonight?" the woman inquired. The old man nodded and disappeared into a back room. Amber led the three boys up to the bar, and they took their seats. The old man came back with four menus.

"Choose what you want. We'll debate over prices later," the old man said as they picked up their menus.

"This is... eastern food?" Arthur commented out loud, and both Amber and the old man nodded their heads.

"Old man Fu here makes the best Inti food," Amber said as she looked at the menu. Arthur shrugged and turned his attention back to the menu.

After a couple minutes, all four of them had given their orders to Fu, who went into the kitchen to start making the food. It was at this point in time that Lukas decided to try to get a bit more information out of their mysterious companion.

"So, Amber, how do you know all these people? Do you live here?" Lukas inquired of their female companion. She shook her head.

"No. Though, I have been here all winter, since I was snowed in," she replied, sipping the drink Fu had just brought out. The other three took their drinks as well.

"Well then, where are you headed?" Dacian inquired.

"Headed out east, to where I hear the Wanderer is supposedly from," Amber replied calmly. Her comment got the attention of all three of her companions.

"The Wanderer you say?" Lukas asked, leaning in closer. Amber raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Are you, perhaps, searching for the Wanderer?" the woman with the black hair inquired. Lukas nodded.

"We each have our own reasons, but we all wanted to find the Wanderer. That's why we are traveling," Arthur said. Then, the old man come out of the kitchen with their food. He sat on the other side of the bar as the four of them began to eat.

"This is good!" Dacian exclaimed as he energetically dug into his food. The other two males nodded.

"So, are you having any luck finding the Wanderer?" old man Fu inquired of the trio, nearly causing all three of them to choke on their food.

"How did you...?" Lukas started to say before Fu interrupted him.

"I heard your conversation from the kitchen," the old man replied.

"I see," Lukas replied.

"We haven't had many leads yet. All we really have to go on are the stories Lukas's father told him," Arthur said, taking a sip of his tea.

"Your father?" Fu inquired of the light-blonde haired man. Lukas nodded.

"My father, Erik, was one of the few people who the Wanderer taught the ancient arts to in this modern era," Lukas replied quietly. Fu laughed.

"I met your father when he went searching for the Wanderer. He was a nice young man. It's nice to meet his son," the old man said as they finished their food. They stood, and Amber put some money out on the bar counter.

"Is this enough?" the woman inquired, and the old man nodded.

"Thank you very much," Lukas said. Arthur, Dacian, and Amber also thanked the old man before leaving.

Lukas had an unreadable expression on as they headed back to the inn to head to sleep, many thoughts going through his mind as they walked.

* * *

_Haha! I almost forgot to update this today, so I was freaking out. It's about 10:00 P.M. on a school night, and I really should be asleep, but I had to update this._

_I slipped in a reference to another anime. The first person who correctly states what my reference is will get a single, Hetalia oneshot._

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	6. Supplies and Routes

_I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

The next day was full of activity. The three males could barely keep track of Amber as she flitted from place to place like an excited fairy. The trio had decided to accompany Amber back to her hometown, supposedly near where the Wanderer was from. Amber was gathering supplies for their trip. At first, the trio wasn't so sure about her going out and spending money, but then she assured them that it was her money and not theirs.

Arthur was focusing on a spell, Dacian was cooking something, and Lukas was conversing with his fairy friends when Amber returned from her shopping trip. Lukas went over and helped her with the supplies she had acquired.

"What did you get us, Amber?" Dacian inquired as he finished cooking, setting aside the food so it could cool.

"Supplies," she replied, placing a bag on one of the beds.

"More specific, please," he said, walking over to where Lukas had placed another bag.

"Supplies for the trip." She grabbed another bag and set in on the floor by the bed. Dacian sighed.

"I give up." He sat down on the empty bed as Lukas closed the door. Arthur put his spell book down and joined the other three over by the materials Amber had bought. Amber opened the bags and displayed what she had bought.

There were a couple pieces of thicker cloth, some rolled up blankets, food, medical supplies for any injuries, and a couple other useful items for their trip. The trio stare at it in awe.

"How much money did you spend on all of this?" Arthur inquired curiously.

"I shall not tell you the amount nor exactly how I got all of it. To put it simply, I know how to bargain," the woman started to fold up and sort the supplies. "Can you guys get out your traveling bags so we can distribute the supplies evenly?" The trio nodded and went to go get their bags. As Amber folded the blankets she had bought, the other returned with their bags.

Together, the four of them packed their supplies for the trip ahead. Lukas pulled out his map, and they all hovered over it for a bit. Amber pointed out two different routes while the trio watched. Lukas watched her trace a path that took them through a mountain chain nearby.

"I think that we should take the route that goes through the river and bypasses the mountain route," Arthur said as Amber lifted her finger up. Dacian nodded his head.

"I agree. It'll be less dangerous then going through the mountain chain. You can never be too careful," Dacian said, voicing his support for Arthur's choice. Lukas shook his head, disagreeing with his two main companions.

"It's quicker to travel through the mountain path. You two forget, we can use magic, and Amber is an excellent guide. It'll be just as safe taking the mountain route as it will be taking the river route," Lukas said monotonously, his eyes traveling over at the map.

"I still think that we should take the river path. It'll be less physically exhausting," Arthur argued back.

"This is going nowhere. The river route isn't as safe as you think. My friend lost her life trying to cross the river. I say we take the mountain route," Amber said, drawing the trio's attention to her.

"Well, I've changed my mind. Let's go with the mountain route," Dacian said. Arthur huffed.

"That could have just been your friend. I still say we take the river route," Arthur said irritably. Lukas's brow creased, and then he spoke up again.

"It looks like there's another route. Do you know anything about it, Amber?" Lukas inquired. Amber looked at the map.

"That route is, actually, the shortest, but it takes you right through Bandit Forest," the archer said somewhat quietly.

"Well, if it's shorter, we should take it!" Arthur exclaimed. Dacian nodded his head in agreement.

"I agree with you on that, Arthur," Lukas said.

"Go ahead with what you choose. If you regret your decision in the end," Amber said. The trio nodded, and Lukas rolled up the map. Then, they went back to preparing for their trip, and air of excitement hanging about them.

* * *

_Yay! Here's the next chapter._

_Comments are appreciated!_

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	7. Journey to the Forest

_I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

The four of them waved good by to Mimi, her mom, and Fu, and then they set off on their journey. As they walked, Lukas thought back to the interesting conversation between Mimi and Amber.

_"Will you be coming back?" Mimi had asked Amber curiously before the four had departed. The black haired girl shook her head._

_"No. You might see the other three, but not me," Amber had said. Mimi frowned._

_"Why?" Mimi inquired._

_"I have other things to do, and I doubt that I will head back in this direction for those things."_

_"Aww, okay." Amber hugged the younger girl, smiling at her._

"Lukas! Are you paying attention to what I'm saying?" Dacian called, breaking Lukas out of his quiet revere. Lukas shook his head. Dacian sighed in exasperation. "I was saying how we should just use magic to get there. It would be quicker."

"That's not a good idea," Lukas replied, looking over at his strawberry-blonde traveling companion.

"But it would be so much quicker!" Dacian exclaimed.

"We would get too tired out, and you know that Amber can't use magic," Lukas replied, not noticing the slight smile that graced Amber's face.

"True," Dacian said, trailing of slightly.

"Walking is the best option, so let us walk," Amber said from the front of the group.

A bit later, they stopped in an open meadow for a break and some food. As Arthur started to set the food out, Amber got up.

"I'm going to go walk around. Go ahead and eat without me," Amber said before walking off into the tall grass. The trio stared at her as she left.

"Well, then, let's eat," Arthur said, picking up one of the sandwiches they had packed before leaving and biting in. Dacian and Lukas both picked up a sandwich and began to eat.

"Do we really need to travel with her?" Arthur inquired as they ate their lunch. "I don't really trust her."

"She might be able to lead us closer to our goal," Lukas replied, finishing his sandwich.

"I know. Still, should we trust a girl we came across in the woods who won't give us a straight answer to anything?" Arthur asked. Dacian turned to look at the other two members of their trio.

"She saved our lives. Isn't that enough?" Lukas replied, looking over at his companion with the bushy eyebrows.

"I guess, but if she does anything to harm us, I will blame your for it," Arthur said, his eyes narrowing. Lukas sighed and nodded his head. They heard a rustling, and Amber returned to the trio, her black pigtails blowing out behind her. She sat down in between Lukas and Dacian and grabbed a sandwich.

"How was your walk, Amber?" Dacian asked as Amber began to eat her sandwich.

"It was nice," she said.

Once Amber had finished eating, they got back onto the road. As they walked, the forest in the distance slowly drew closer. It was almost nightfall when they reached the outskirts of the forest.

"Are we going to stop here for the night or continue on?" Amber asked as they stood, gazing up at the dark tops of the trees.

"I say go on. There's a town just past the other side of the forest," Dacian said.

"I agree with Dacian," Arthur said, and Lukas nodded his head in agreement. Amber nodded.

"Okay," they continued on, entering the outskirts of the forest. As they headed deeper, the light grew dimmer.

"Is it just me or is it really creepy in here?" Arthur comment, continuously looking around.

"Well, you asked for it," Amber said, smirking even though the trio couldn't see it. "Welcome, boys, to Bandit Forest."

* * *

_I'm trying to write longer chapters, though it's rather hard since I'm trying to avoid using time skips as much as I can. _

_I hope you enjoy this newest chapter! Comments are highly appreaciated!_

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	8. Split in the Path

_I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

There was very little light where they were. They were deep in the forest, and the silence was almost deafening. There were no animal noises, no rustling of the trees, no noise at all. The trio followed behind their guide.

"I wish we had chosen one of the other paths," Arthur muttered to himself quietly, getting freaked out by the silence in the place. Lukas shook his head, and Dacian smiled.

"I find this place very interesting and fun!" Dacian exclaimed. Lukas sighed and shook his head again.

"Well, that's you," Arthur said.

"Haha, wimp," Dacian said, poking fun at Arthur. Before Arthur had a chance to reply, Lukas cut in.

"Enough, you two," Lukas replied, causing the two to stop their bickering. The walked the next couple of minutes in silence, each person focusing on their surroundings.

After an hour or so of walking in the dark, quiet forest, they came to a split in the path. The path forked in three directions, and the travelers stopped at the fork. The left fork seemed to be lighter than the rest of the paths, as if there were small holes in the tree tops. The middle fork seemed to be the same as the rest of the forest they had just passed through. The right fork was almost pitch black; there was barely enough light to see the path after a couple feet.

"Uh, Amber?" Arthur asked apprehensively, still very uneasy about being in this place. The woman turned to look at the mage with the bushy eyebrows.

"Yes?" Amber inquired of the dirty-blonde.

"Which way do we go?" he asked the black haired female.

"I don't know," she replied, gaining a frightened glance from the dirty blonde white-and-black magic user, a quizzical look from the strawberry blonde black magic user, and a blank stare from the light blonde elemental magic user. Then, she smirked at them. "Why don't you decide?" she said before standing off to the side, leaning against a nearby tree.

"Where do the paths lead?" Lukas inquired, turning to look at Amber.

"They all lead out of here. Though, they all lead out in different directions. I don't know where each one leaves; this is my first time traveling through this forest. All I know of this forest are the stories that have been told to me by people who have traversed this place," Amber said. Lukas nodded and then turned back to the other two.

"Well, we need to find the path that comes out closest to the village," Lukas said, and Dacian and Arthur nodded their heads.

"I think that we should take the path to the left," Arthur said, pointing to the path with the most light. Dacian shook his head.

"No, we should take the middle path. It looked like a straight path on the map," Dacian said, contradicting Arthur. "Lukas, what do you say?" The light blonde mage turned from staring at the fork to look at his companions.

"I say the right fork," Lukas commented quietly.

"Why do you want to go down the path with the least light?" Arthur inquired in a somewhat whiny voice.

"I just have a feeling about that path," Lukas said, "and it seems that we all have different choices for which fork to take."

"The only thing is, which one is the correct path?" Arthur said. Dacian sighed.

"Can't we just use magic to figure it out?" the strawberry blonde mage commented, causing the other two males to look at him.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Arthur said, resting his head in his hands. Lukas frowned slightly.

"What happens if the magic doesn't work? Then what? It is always good to have a back up plan," the elemental mage comment.

"You might want to choose quickly. I have heard that this place is not safe when the sun is down, and wasn't the sun just setting as we entered the forest?" Amber commented. Arthur paled.

"Really? Fuck," Arthur said, gaining weird looks from his companions because he cussed.

"Okay, why don't we try using magic to divine which route to take, and if that doesn't work, how about we just wing it and choose a path?" Dacian said quickly. He ended up having to repeat what he said because he was talking too fast for Arthur to understand clearly. All Amber really heard about that part was that Arthur had misheard "divine which route" and thought that Dacian had said "find a boot." It made no sense, so Amber ignored it and waited for the three of them to choose which path to go.

Arthur stood at the exact point where the path split, a magic circle glowing underneath of him. He closed his eyes and focused on trying to divine the route which would take them out of the forest closest to the nearby town. He stood there for a bit before opening his eyes and cussing.

"It's not working?" Dacian asked, frowning slightly. Arthur nodded, a scowl on his face. He kicked some sticks off of the middle path and walked back over to the other two members of the trio.

"Some bloody thing is blocking my magic. I guess we just have to wing it and hope that we get lucky," Arthur said, annoyed that he couldn't use his magic to do such a simple thing as divining. Lukas nodded, and Dacian sighed.

"Who's choosing the path?" Lukas asked. Dacian looked thoughtful for a moment before replying.

"Why don't we have Amber choose for us? Since she's not a magic user, she won't be pulled to any path because of any magic-related thing," Dacian said.

"Sounds good," Lukas said, walking over to Amber. She turned to look at him, having been staring off into distance.

"Yes? Have you three come to a decision about which path to take?" Amber asked him.

"We couldn't agree on one path, so we decided that we would let you choose," Lukas replied, the other two coming to stand beside him. She nodded and then turned to look at the fork.

"Well, here we go," she said before walking down the right path. The trio followed behind her, uncertain at her choice of going down the path with the least light. As they disappeared down the path, the wind blew, causing a couple sticks to rustle around, masking the sound of the footsteps that didn't belong to the travelers.

* * *

_Ah, this chapter was fun to write. Longest chapter so far, so yay me!_

_Comments are appreciated very much._

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	9. Bandits!

_I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

They walked down the path, following behind Amber's silhouette. It was very dark, and they could barely make out their surroundings, much less the person in front of them. There was almost complete and utter silence. The only sounds were the wind and the slight rustling of the leaves. Their footsteps didn't make any noise, for the moss they were walking on dampened the sound.

"Can't we summon a light or something? It's very dark..." Arthur said, trailing off a bit.

"Magic doesn't work. You should have realized that when you couldn't divine which fork to take," Amber said. The others stopped and so did she. The trio looked at her.

"How do you know that? You said that you've never traveled through here before, and you're not a magic user," Lukas said, staring at their guide.

"I've heard stories," Amber said before continuing on. The trio following her. Arthur and Dacian were seriously starting to doubt asking Amber to choose which path they should take when something unexpected happened.

Out of nowhere, a couple people ran at the travelers. Arthur barely had time to figure out what was going on before he was knocked out. He never even had a chance to pull out his saber. Dacian managed to draw his sword and had it out before he was knocked out. Lukas managed to dodge most of the attacks thrown his way, counterattacking with his mace. He managed to figure out that his attackers were male and rather muscly before he too was knocked out.

When Dacian awoke, he found himself tied to a tree along with an awake and annoyed Lukas and an unconscious Arthur. Standing in front of him was a group of bandits. The bandits were all very well built and large. The largest man seemed to be the leader, for he was ordering the others around.

"You didn't find the girl?!" the leader roared at the two cowering men in front of him.

"We're sorry! All we found was her broken bow! She has no weapon!" one of the men said, looking up at the leader, still shaking. The big leader shook his head and shooed them away. Just as Arthur was waking, the leader of the bandits turned his eye to look over at the three captive mages. Arthur was cussing up a storm as the bandit approached them.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? A pirate turned gentleman, a mysterious red-eyed blonde, and an emotionless caretaker. An interesting group indeed, especially with that girl," the leader said before smirking down at the three tied up mages.

"How... How do you know that?" Arthur exclaimed, squirming, "Bloody bastard!" The other two just glanced at Arthur before turning their attention back to the bandit.

"Well, I am Rourke. You'll be my guests until that pesky little girl rears her head and is captured," the bandit said, still smirking down at them. Lukas narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Why are you so interested in her?" Lukas inquired calmly, showing no emotion, unlike his two companions. Arthur had this expression as if he was royally pissed off, and Dacian looked as if he was exasperated. Rourke laughed.

"None of your business," he said, before motioning for another man to watch over them as he disappeared off to go find Amber, muttering as he went "Do I have to do all the work?" The blonde haired man he motioned to went over to the three and stared at them before kneeling down.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this. I'm Ludwig. I'm not actually one of his bandits; I'm looking for someone," he whispered to them as he looked around at the other bandits.

"You're just as bad as the rest of them. You can't do a bloody thing to help us," Arthur fumed as Ludwig began to prepare the small amount of food that the prisoners were allowed to eat.

"Do you know why he's so interested in Amber?" Lukas asked the blonde as Ludwig untied them from the tree and retied them separately before feeding them. Ludwig shook his head.

"No. I don't know much about him, except that he's a magic user," he said, gaining looks from the trio.

"He's a what?" Dacian exclaimed, quieting down after getting looks from the other bandits. Ludwig looked around and nodded before standing up.

"I have to go now," he said before heading back over to the throng of bandits. The trio watched him go.

"Interesting. Rourke can use magic," Lukas muttered quietly before falling silent. The trio looked around, bored, until Rourke returned, frustrated. The bandit stomped over to them, obviously very annoyed.

"Where is she?! Where is the girl with the black hair in pigtails?!" Rourke yelled at them, causing them to shrink up against the tree they were leaning against. Just as he raised his hand to strike them, the wind blew fiercely, causing the fire producing the light to blow out. They were all left in darkness, barely able to see the silhouettes of the others around them. The only light was the faint moonlight shinning through the treetops.

Suddenly, two blades crossed over Rourke's neck. The blades glowed slightly in the moonlight, and the trio realized that somebody behind him was threatening him with thin, fencing-like swords. Rourke's eyes opened wide, and the Dacian could hear the bandit's breathing become heavier.

"Let them go, or you will no longer be apart of this world," the person threatening Rourke said, their voice muffled. Rourke shook as the blades glinted in the moonlight.

"Do it!" the bandit yelled at his men, and the other bandits complied. The trio sighed as their restraints were cut. The nodded to Ludwig before they ran out of the clearing and back onto the path. There on the path they stood, catching their breaths.

"That was an interesting experience," Lukas said as they began walking down the path, looking around for Amber.

"That wasn't interesting. That was a bloody annoying nuisance," Arthur said as they exited the forest. They blinked a bit, readjusting their eyes to the light. As they looked around, the noticed Amber sitting on a rock and polishing her broken bow. The went over to her. "And where have you been. Bloody hell."

"Sitting out her, mainly. I had to return once I realized that I had left my bow in there," she said calmly, "What happened to you guys?"

"Oh, nothing more than getting kidnapped by bloody bandits!" Arthur exclaimed. Amber raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, that wasted time," she said, standing up and holding her bow out, "Could you please fix this for me?" Lukas nodded and fixed it using magic. Amber smiled at them.

"Can we get moving? I'm hungry!" Dacian complained, causing them to laugh. They continued walking towards the nearby village as the sun started to rise in the distance.

* * *

_Yay! Another chapter done! This one had a lot of action, and another Hetalia character made an appearance!_

_Comments are highly appreciated!_

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	10. The Walled-in Village

_I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

They stood in front of the gate to the village, annoyed. This was the first walled-in village they had passed by, and they, especially Arthur and Dacian, were getting annoyed.

"Why won't they let us in yet?" Dacian muttered, kicking around a stone to try to cure his boredom.

"I don't know; maybe because we passed through Bandit Forest in the middle of the night?" Amber said, speaking up for the first time since they arrived at the village. The trio looked at her.

"And that is related how?" Arthur said, sitting down on a boulder. Amber leaned up against another boulder, holding her bow in her hand.

"People don't pass through the Bandit Forest and survive unharmed," Amber replied before falling silent again. After a bit, one of the gate guards went over to tell them whether they would be allowed in or not.

"It has been decided that you lovely folks will be allowed in," the guard said, flipping his shoulder-length hair. The travelers nodded. "I will be showing you to your accommodations for the day," he said as he led them inside of the walls. The trio and Amber followed the guard to an inn off of a side road.

"Thank you," Amber said as they approached the inn. The guard smiled at her and offered her a rose. The long, black haired woman with pigtails daintily took the flower and twirled it around.

"Anything for you, my dear," he said, causing Arthur to fake-gag in the background. The guard whirled around to look at the blonde with the bushy eyebrows. "Excuse me, but are you mocking me?" Arthur had this horrified glance on his face and shook his head. Dacian had to refrain from bursting out laughing as Amber smiled.

"Never," Arthur replied.

"Yeah right."

"I mean it!"

"No you don't, honhonhon!"

"That laugh is so annoying! Shut up!" And with that, Arthur and the guard began to fight. Thankfully, it was mainly a verbal fight. Eventually, Lukas had to break up the fighting. As Arthur and the guard regained their breath, the door to the inn opened. Two girls exited from the inn, one running and the other walking.

"Papa Francis! You're back!" the girl with short, blonde hair said, running up to and hugging the guard. The quieter one with longer blonde hair in low pigtails walked up to the guard.

"Hey, papa," the quieter of the two girls said, getting a hug and a smile from her dad. The travelers watch the guard happily interact with his daughters.

"Um, can we see where we're staying?" Dacian said, awkwardly interrupting family time, and Francis nodded. He led them to their rooms, his daughters trailing along.

"So you guys are travelers?" the more outgoing girl, Amelia, said.

"Yes," Lukas replied quietly as he put his stuff down on one of the beds.

"That's so cool! I want to travel around and see the world too!" Amelia said.

"What do you want to do, Madeleine?" Amber said, addressing the quieter sister.

"I'm not really sure, to be honest," Madeleine said, smiling. Amber nodded her head and then turned to Francis.

"This place seems rather empty," the woman with brownish-gold eyes said. Francis sighed.

"Ever since the inn on the main road opened up, we've lost a lot of business. I guess it's because we're so off of the main road," Francis said.

"That's sad. I wish I could do something to help," Arthur said, drawing the attention of everybody in the room.

"That would be nice, but you don't have to. I understand that you're busy traveling."

"I would like to try. I'll try to return to here to help you all out once my traveling days are over." Soon after that, the travelers went out for food and for supplies. Everywhere they went, people looked at them weirdly. When Dacian asked why, Amber said that it was because they had passed through Bandit Forest in the middle of the night without getting harmed.

Later on in the day, Arthur hung out with Francis and his family while Lukas was off by himself looking around at the village. Dacian and Amber were walking around, talking to each other.

"There are some things that I don't understand about you," Dacian said as the two of you walked around the perimeter of the village.

"I think that all three of you have question about me. I'm not very open with you guys," Amber replied.

"Like the fact that you haven't told us that you're actually a mage?" Amber stopped in her tracks and turned to look at Dacian.

"Why do you say that?"

"I can sense magical auras. Your aura is just a blank void. After thinking it over for awhile, I realized that it wasn't that you didn't have an aura, but that you were hiding your aura."

"You're good. It's true; I've been lying about not being a mage. Then again, would you have trusted me if I said that I was a mage?" Dacian thought on what she had said as they began walking.

"Not really. I see your point."

"Well, you haven't told them that you're half vampire." This time, it was Dacian who stopped in his tracks.

"How... how did you find out?" She frowned slightly before replying.

"It's hard to explain. It's not that I looked into your mind, but it's a spell that acts in a similar manner. Does that make sense?" Dacian nodded, and they continued their walk.

* * *

_I almost forgot to update, but I didn't! Woot! Anyways, I think that this fanfiction will end up around 20 chapters, give or take a couple chapters._

_Comments are appreciated!_

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	11. Trip to the Next Stop

_Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

"Aww, do you really have to go?" Amelia said, clinging to Arthur's arm. Arthur nodded his head. Arthur, Lukas, Dacian, and Amber were about to leave the walled-in village, and Francis and his two daughters were their goodbye committee.

"Are you guys going to be okay leaving at such a late time? The next village is about a half-day's walk away," Madeleine said.

"We should be fine. When it gets dark, we have matches, candles, and the lanterns you gave us," Amber said, addressing the quieter of the twins. Madeleine nodded her head.

"If you ever come here again, our house is open for you four to stay in," Francis said. The four travelers nodded their heads.

As the travelers exited the village, the small family of three waved goodbye to them. Amber led the way, following the map that Francis had given her.

"So, where are we going again?" Dacian asked, eliciting a face palm from Lukas. Arthur shook his head as Amber smiled.

"We're going to the hometown of the Wanderer. We've mentioned this before, Dacian. You should have been paying attention," Lukas said calmly.

"Sorry," Dacian whined. Arthur giggled off to the side as Amber shook her head in an endearing manner.

"Come on. Let's keep moving," Amber said, getting the group back on focus. Around midday, the small group took a break for lunch.

Amber was standing off to the side, stretching her limbs, when Arthur approached her. She raised an eyebrow at him.

"What an honor. You've come to visit me," Amber said, stretching her arms.

"Don't mock me," Arthur said, carrying a biscuit in his hands. He sat down on the grass and took a bite out of his biscuit.

"I wasn't mocking you. If I was, you would be able to tell," the black haired woman with pigtails said, "Why have to come to talk to me?"

"I wanted to ask you a question."

"Everybody has questions they want to ask. The real trick is getting them answered."

"You sound like you're trying to avoid any questions I'm going to ask you."

"I'm not. I'm just warning you that I might not give you the answers you seek. Now, ask away," Amber said, finishing her stretching and sitting down on the grass across from Arthur.

"Do you know something about the Wanderer that you haven't told us?" the blonde haired former pirate said.

"Yes."

"Will you tell me what you're hiding?"

"No."

"Will you ever tell us?"

"Yes, but not now."

"Why?" At this question, Amber sighed.

"It'll make sense when I tell you. Until then, you must be content with the information that you already have," Amber replied before standing up.

"Come. Let's return to Lukas and Dacian. I'm hungry!" Arthur shook his head and got up.

"What were you guys doing over there?" Dacian asked when they arrived back to where the others were eating.

"I was stretching while Arthur was eating," Amber said, grabbing a sandwich to eat. She sat down next to Lukas and began eating.

"Is that really what you two were doing?" Dacian said. Amber nodded her head.

"Yes," Arthur said, picking up another biscuit.

"Then why did you leave me out of it?!" Dacian exclaimed, causing Arthur to snort, Lukas to shake his head, and Amber to giggle.

"Because you never asked!" Amber said, still giggling. After that, they finished eating and got back onto the road.

"I see houses in the distance!" Dacian exclaimed as they approached their destination, the sun setting behind it.

"That's because we're approaching the village," Lukas said, not really in the mood for Dacian's antics after having to deal with them all day long.

"Well, guys, welcome to the Wanderer's hometown," Amber said, a big smile on her face.

* * *

_I am so very very sorry for not updating this in the past month. I was very busy._

_Good news! I finished the entire story (minus the omakes), so I shouldn't be as bad about not updating. Also, I'm going to start posting two chapters instead of one to make up for missing a month._

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	12. Village of the Wanderer

_Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

A kind, old lady greeted them at the edge of the farthest outlying house.

"Welcome, dear travelers. I am the Elder of the village," the old lady said. Then, she smiled. "And welcome home, Amber. You've been gone for a bit." The trio turned to look at the female archer who was traveling with them, flabbergasted at the thing that had been revealed.

"This is your hometown?! Why did you never tell us?!" Dacian exclaimed. Amber had to resist from laughing at the expressions on Dacian and Arthur's faces.

"Would you have trusted me?" she inquired of him as they began to head towards the center of the village. Dacian thought for a moment before he shook his head.

"No, not really," he said. As the old lady watched the travelers interact, she saw how much Amber had grown.

"Where are we going to be staying?" Amber asked the Elder once they had reached the center of the town.

"Your old house still stands. You can take up lodging there," the Elder replied as the inhabitants of the village went out to meet the travelers.

As the villagers introduced themselves, Lukas watched them interact with Amber. He found it interesting that most of the older folk knew her yet a lot of the younger folk had never actually met her before. Before he could really think it over, one of the villagers approached him.

"Are you, by chance, Erik's son?" the villager asked, surprising the quiet blonde.

"Yes. Why do you ask?" Lukas inquired back.

"He passed through here on his journey to find the Wanderer. You looked like him, so I guessed that you were his son," the villager said.

"It's nice meeting one of my father's acquaintances."

"Oh, we were more than acquaintances; we were goods friends."

After the trio had been introduced to the entire village, Amber led them to her house. The house was in good condition, but it was very dusty after having not been used for a long time.

"Nice house," Arthur commented as Amber showed them around the inside.

"My dad built it with my mom after their original house burned down," the black haired woman replied.

"Seems very homely," Dacian said as Amber showed them their rooms.

"It is. I'll be in this master bedroom if you need me," she said, disappearing around the corner as the trio began to unpack their stuff.

"I like this village," Dacian stated as they unpacked.

"It's very nice," Arthur added on to Dacian's statement. Lukas kept his comments to himself.

After the trio had settled in the room, they went off to do their own things. Lukas went up to the master bedroom and knocked on the door. Amber opened the door.

"Ah, Lukas, come in," she said, opening the door wide enough for him to come in. Lukas found himself in a nice room with little ornamentation.

"I noticed that you barely have any personal items around the house," Lukas said. Amber sat down on the bed and gestured for Lukas to do the same.

"I took them with me when I left for my trip," she replied as he sat down.

"I see," he replied.

"It's nice to have a piece of home when you're traveling."

"I have a question for you."

"Ask away."

"When we first met, why did you omit which village that you came from?"

"I shall tell you the same answer I told Dacian. Would you have trusted me?"

"I'm not asking what he asked. Why did you omit that you came from the same village as the Wanderer?"

"It made it seem simpler than it was."

"Why would you have wanted to make it simpler?"

"It made it so that I could avoid all the questions that you all would have asked me."

"I see. Thank you for clearing things up," Lukas said, standing to leave.

"Before you go, let me tell you something," Amber said as Lukas walked towards the door. He stopped and turned to look at her.

"What?"

"Trust in your magic. It will lead you to the truth." Lukas blinked a couple of times, letting her words soak in. He nodded and then exited the room. As he closed the door, Amber sighed.

"If only I could tell him now…" she said, trailing off as his footsteps became quieter.

* * *

_Here we go with Chapter 11! Next week I get to update the beginning of the climax._

_I want people to take guesses on who exactly Amber is. _

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	13. Tea with the Elder

_Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

Lukas walked out of the house, contemplating the words that Amber had just spoken to him. He walked into the village, thinking over the things that had happened since he had been traveling with Amber.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. The final piece had fallen into place, and he could now see the entire picture.

"Why didn't I notice this before?" Lukas muttered to himself, turning on his heel to head back to the house. As he headed back to the house, he bumped into someone.

"Excuse me. I wasn't paying attention to where I was headed," Lukas said, looking up to find that he had bumped into the Elder.

"It's okay. Come, would you like to have some tea?" the Elder said. Lukas thought for a moment before nodding. He figured that his discovery could be told later on to his friends.

The Elder led to way to the center of the town. Lukas followed behind her quietly. When they got to the Elder's house, they entered the house to find two cups of hot tea waiting for them.

"You knew that I was going to say yes to your offer," Lukas said as he sat down at the table and picked up his cup of tea.

"I assumed that you would, and if you didn't, then either Dacian or Arthur would. Amber always said that I was good at reading people," the Elder said, sipping her tea.

"I could see why," Lukas replied.

"So you have figured out her secret?"

"Yes. How could you tell?"

"Your response to my comment about Amber was all the evidence that I needed."

"I can see her point," Lukas replied, drinking his tea.

"Will you tell the others?"

"Most likely, unless she tells me to let them figure it out for themselves."

"I won't be surprised if Arthur has the most trouble figuring it out?"

"Why Arthur and not Dacian?"

"Dacian has already figured out that she's a mage. She told me so when I was talking to her earlier."

"That makes sense."

They continued their idle chat for awhile until both of their cups were drained of tea. Lukas placed his cup on the table and stood up.

"Well, I better get going," he said, and the Elder nodded her head. Lukas opened the door only to barely miss getting barreled over by a young boy.

"Madam! Bandits have taken Lily and Chris hostage! They say that they will not give them back unless we give up Amber!" the boy exclaimed, panting. The Elder rose from her seat.

"Gather the fighters of the village and prepare to rescue them," she said, following the boy out the door. Lukas followed behind them, quietly closing the door behind him.

"Lukas, go gather your friends. You can help us retrieve our young ones," the Elder said, and Lukas nodded his head. Before he left, the Elder placed something in his hands.

"Give this to Amber. She will know what to do with it," she said as he looked at what she had given him. He nodded his head again, and then he ran off in search of his friends.

As he ran, he called upon his fairy friends to point out where Dacian and Arthur were.

"Dacian is with the men of the village. He was searching for food when the call to arms came," one of his fairy friends said.

"Arthur is still in Amber's house. Amber is also there," another fairy said. Lukas veered his course towards the house that they were staying in. As he approached the house, he found Amber and Arthur exiting the house, the former with her bow and quiver and the latter with his saber, Lukas's mace, and Dacian's sword.

"We heard the call! Let's go find Dacian and then rescue the kids!" Arthur exclaimed, tossing Lukas his mace. Lukas caught the mace with ease, nodded his head, and led them towards Dacian.

In the shadow of the nearby trees, Ludwig watched them.

"Please, rescue the kids and all the other prisoners Rourke has," the blonde whispered quietly before vanishing back into the depths of the forest.

* * *

_Sorry about not updating on Thursday._

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	14. Bandits and Revelations

_Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

As Arthur, Lukas, and Amber ran towards the meeting place, Lukas slipped the item that the Elder had given him to Amber. She gasped and smiled at him.

"Thank you. I'm guessing that you figured out the secret, since she asked you to give it to me," Amber said, and Lukas nodded his head.

"Dacian!" Arthur called out, and the strawberry blonde turned his head towards them. Dacian gracefully caught his sword that Arthur had tossed him as the met up.

"Are we going in before they do? They're still waiting on a couple people," Dacian asked.

"We should. I bet you that it's the bandits from before, and I don't want to know what they will do to speed up the process," Amber said.

"Are you sure that it's a good idea that you join us?" Lukas asked of the [eye color] eyed woman.

"I don't really care. They took Lily and Chris, the daughter and son of one of my good friends. I can't let anything happen to them," she replied.

"Just try not to get captured!" Dacian exclaimed before they headed into the trees.

The canopy of trees blocked out a good portion of the light, but they could still see where they were going. They tried to walk as quietly as they could. Lukas led the way with one of his fairies pointing them in the right direction.

"They have a fire going," Lukas told them quietly when they had stopped near where the bandits had set up camp. The others nodded. There was a faint orange glow.

"I'm going to go up into the trees and shoot from there. We're lucky that this forest isn't like bandit forest. We can use magic here," Amber said. Arthur was curious at her use of 'we' instead of 'you', but when he looked at the others, who didn't seem to mind it, he shook his head and got back on task.

"Sounds good," Lukas said. Amber quietly climbed the tree, and the trio watched her, waiting for her signal.

"Now," Arthur said, seeing Amber give them the signal. The trio burst into the clearing.

"Great. You again," Rourke and Dacian said at the same time. Arthur took in his surroundings, noting the fact that two young kids were being held in a magical sphere off to the side.

"We're here to rescue the kids," Arthur said, looking Rourke straight in the eye. The bandits burst out laughing.

"You think that you can just waltz in here and demand something out of us without paying a price! Ha, what a joke!" Rourke exclaimed, "They're not leaving until I have that pesky girl in my hands!"

Lukas had to admit that Amber had impeccable timing. First when they were fighting that beast when they had met her and then now. Her arrow had flown out of the trees and struck one of the bandits just after Rourke had finished speaking.

"She's here! Find her!" Rourke ordered, and the bandits scurried around, trying to find the one person that Rourke had set his sights on getting.

With that order to the bandits, the trio leapt into action to prevent them from finding her. Lukas was using the fire to get any bandits that hadn't moved away from it in time, burning their legs and arms. Arthur was trying to curse some of the bandits, and, when that failed, he turned to capturing them in magic cages. Dacian had disappeared off to the side, searching through the bags, for he had sensed a mysterious aura coming from them.

"You all are useless!" Rourke roared before he joined the battle. Even though the bandits out numbered the trio of magic user, they were out classed.

"What are these?!" Dacian exclaimed, stopping the battle with his discovery. He had found spheres, similar to the one that Lily and Chris were trapped in. Each sphere held a miniature person frozen in one position.

"Give those to me!" Rourke roared again, heading towards Dacian. Before he could reach Dacian, an arrow struck his ankle, and he tripped. The shaking of tree branches was heard as Amber jumped down from her position in the trees.

"Those are his prisoners, shrunken and frozen in spheres," she said, walking into the light of the fire.

"I see you have finally decided to join us, Wanderer," Rourke said, a victorious expression on his face.

* * *

_Hehe, I like cliffhangers and bombshells. _

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	15. The Gift of Magic

_Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

Dacian and Arthur's mouths dropped open in surprise while Lukas remained as stoic as ever.

"When did that happen?" Arthur asked as Dacian asked, "Why did you never tell us?" Rourke laughed and then turned to the quiet female.

"You never told them who you are? Ha, you truly are a fool," the big bandit said.

"You are the fool," Amber responded calmly, throwing something out of her hand at the sphere which kept Lily and Chris.

"If you break that, they die," Rourke said as cracks appeared on the sphere, centering from where the jewel had hit it.

"I know," Amber said as the sphere shattered. The trio stared in horror only to realize that Lily and Chris were fine.

"What? How did you do that?" Rourke said, staring at what used to be a sphere of magic.

"Simple magic cancelling spell. That's what inscribed on the jewel of that necklace. Mira made it for me when we were younger, but I accidentally left it in the village," Amber said calmly, walking over to the two sleeping kids and picking up the necklace.

"The Elder can do nothing for you now. Not even the necklace that she made for you will help," Rourke said angrily. He unsheathed his sword and attacked Amber.

Amber quickly threw the necklace to Dacian, who caught it and began to release the other people that Rourke had taken prisoner. As Rourke approached her, she took a defensive stance and held her bow out in front of her to take the attack. When the sword hit the bow, it cut through it. Amber quickly jumped back as Rourke took a swing at her.

"Looks like you're void of a weapon," Rourke said, smirking.

"You forget that I am a mage," Amber said, transforming the two broken halves of her bow into two thin, fencing-like swords. Her magic glowed white, a great contrast to Dacian's red magic, Lukas's blue magic, and Arthur's green magic. Rourke gulped when he saw them.

"You were there in that forest. You came and saved those foolish mages," Rourke said as realization dawned on the trio. It had been Amber who had saved them when Rourke had caught them when they were traveling through bandit forest.

"It is true that I saved them, for by that time, I had deemed at least one of them worthy of receiving my gift," Amber said. Rourke smirked before a dark brown magic circle appeared beneath his feet.

"Well, then I will catch you and force you to give your gift to me," he said, summoning the same beast that Lukas, Dacian, and Arthur had been rescued from by Amber, "You will not escape it this time. It will track down whoever has the blood of the Wanderer in them to the ends of the world."

To everybody except for Amber's surprise, it did not go for Amber. Instead, it attacked Lukas, who was the closest to it. Lukas protected himself with a wind barrier. He was pushed back slightly by the force of the blow.

"What? Why did it go after him?" Rourke said, his mouth open wide as he watched Amber leap from her spot to help Lukas battle the beast.

"You said blood of the Wanderer, correct? You missed one tiny, significant detail. Lukas has my blood flowing through his veins," Amber said, shocking everybody in the clearing speechless.

"But… how?" Rourke said as Lukas struck the beast through the heart with a spike made out of ice, causing it to disintegrate into dust.

"His father was my half brother," Amber said, turning to face the leader of the bandits. Arthur, Lukas, and Dacian stood behind her, ready to help her fight him. The prisoners that Dacian had released were being helped by Ludwig, whose brother had been one of the prisoners, along with the villagers, who had just arrived. Rourke gritted his teeth.

"It doesn't make a difference. I will kill them, and then I will be the one who will learn the most powerful magic!" he yelled, laughing as he did so.

"This guy's crazy," Dacian comment.

"That's kind of obvious," Arthur commented back. Rourke growled at them before attacking.

Amber leapt back and began focusing her magic as the trio fought. Lukas swung his mace at the bandit and used his magic to prevent the other bandits from interfering in the battle. Arthur was giving it his all, slashing at the bandit with his saber. Dacian was busy using his magic to counteract the magic that Rourke was attacking with.

"_Magicae Donum_!" Amber shouted, causing a white magic circle to appear under Lukas, Dacian, and Arthur. Rourke and the bandits stared in awe as Amber used her magic to give her gift to the trio. This was why they had been searching for her; she could give them magic that they didn't have before or unlock some hidden power that was resting deep inside of them.

"To Arthur, I give you full access to the magic which you use. Black and white will be in eternal harmony with you," she said. The circle under Arthur coated him in a blinding, white light before disappearing.

"To Dacian, I give you the abilities which sleep deep inside of you. This is what you received from your ancestor who was a vampire," she said. The circle under Dacian expanded in size and brightness before it too disappeared.

"To Lukas, I give you the gift of an ancient and forgotten magic. Call upon the forgotten gods and watch as their strength flows through you," she said. The circle under Lukas was mirrored by another one above his head as it became a blinding white before it disappeared.

"Hear me now, ancient spirits of this world. These mages before you have been deemed worthy. Thus, they received the gift equal to their worth. Now, let them return to their lives with old and new in harmony. _Magicae Concordia_!" A brief wave of white light washed over the trio of mages before it vanished. Amber fell down from the exhaustion. Ludwig caught her and rested her against a tree.

"What? How come they get magic and I don't? It's not fair!" Rourke exclaimed angrily. The trio looked over to Amber then back to Rourke.

"Let's do this!" Dacian exclaimed, and Lukas and Arthur nodded their heads. They were ready to finish the job and defeat Rourke.

* * *

_Did you guys like it?_

_**Magicae Donum** is Latin for "Magic Gift", and **Magicae Concordia** is Latin for "Magic Harmony"._

_Reviews are appreciated very much._

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	16. End-game Battle and Explanations

_Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

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Arthur rushed at Rourke, slashing at him with his saber. Rourke parried the thrust with his sword and pushed Arthur away from him. Arthur leapt away as Dacian kicked Rourke in the back, using his heighten abilities. Lukas used his mace as a focus point as he called upon the god of thunder. A bolt of lightning shot from his mace at Rourke. He leapt out of the way as Rourke sent a blast of magic at him.

"White Magic: Holy Sword!" Arthur cast, his saber glowing green with his magic as he cut through the blast of magic that Rourke had sent, causing it to dissipate.

"Black Magic: Black Fist!" Dacian cast as he came up behind Rourke. His fist glowed red with his magic as he hit Rourke in the back, causing him to fly across the clearing and into a tree.

"Divine Magic: Thunder God's Rage!" Lukas cast, shooting a bolt of lightning at Rourke, causing the bandit to be trapped inside of vortex of lightning.

Rourke growled and destroyed the lightning with his magic. He kept shooting blast of magic at them, which their either dodged or countered with their own magic.

"Let's attack him all at once," Lukas said as he dodged another one of Rourke's attacks. The other two nodded.

"White Magic," Arthur said, focusing his magic into a sphere of green magic in front of him.

"Black Magic," Dacian said, his red magic pooling in his hands.

"Divine Magic," Lukas said, his blue magic sparking around him.

"Heaven's Arrow!"

"Dark Wave!"

"Unified Gods' Light!"

All three attacks collided with Rourke at the same time. After the dust had cleared, the trio could see that Rourke was unconscious and very battered.

"Woot! We won!" Dacian exclaimed. Lukas rushed over to Amber, who was drinking the water that Ludwig had just offered her.

"How are you feeling?" Lukas asked Amber, who smiled at him.

"I feel fine," she said. As Arthur and Dacian approached Amber and Lukas, they noticed that most of the bandits had been tied up.

"Thanks for everything," Arthur said with a straight face, "but you still have some explaining to do." This caused Amber and Dacian to burst out laughing and Lukas to smile a bit. Arthur shook his head before joining in with their laughter.

"I will explain it when we get back to the village," she said, standing up with Lukas help. As they walked back towards the village, Ludwig approached them.

"Thank you for rescuing my brother," Ludwig said, mainly addressing Dacian.

"And thank you for rescuing my awesome girlfriend!" Ludwig's brother, whose name was Gilbert, said. This earned him a face palm from his girlfriend, Elizabeta.

"You're welcome," Dacian replied.

When they finally arrived back at the village, the trio and Amber headed towards her house. After they had sat down, Amber began her explanation of things.

"First off, I have been the Wanderer all along. There is reason why I didn't tell you this from the beginning. I wanted to see if you were worthy of carrying such powerful magic and using it justly. To do so, I traveled with you without you aware of what I could do. This made it that you could be honest with me without being worried that I would scrutinize everything that you did," she said.

"Second thing, the reason why Lukas was attacked by the beast is because he is my relative, as I said earlier. His father, Erik, was the child of the Wanderer before me and a human. Since he was neither female nor a full-spirit, the powers of the Wanderer were not passed on to him. They were passed on to me, but he still is tied to the family by blood."

"What do you mean by 'powers passed on'?" Arthur asked.

"It's hard to explain, but I'll try. If the Wanderer were to be killed, the role, duty, and power would have to be passed on. Instead of it being randomly passed on to a random spirit, it is passed through bloodline. The oldest surviving, full-spirit daughter of the old Wanderer gains the memories and powers of the past Wanderer and thus becomes the Wanderer," Amber answered.

"What do you mean by a full-spirit?" Dacian asked.

"A spirit with no human blood running through their veins is a full-spirit. I am a full-spirit, though both you and Lukas would count as 'half-spirits'," she replied.

"Why is Dacian a half-spirit?" Arthur asked.

"I'm half vampire. I never told you guys because I was afraid of how you would react," Dacian said, turning to look off to the side.

"I'm not going to treat you any differently just because you're half vampire. You're still the same old Dacian," Arthur said, messing up Dacian's hair.

"I'm not a kid," Dacian said.

"I wasn't treating you as one."

"You were messing up my hair like you would do to a younger brother."

Lukas hid a smile as Amber giggled at their childish antics.

"Sorry, go on," Arthur said.

"Lastly, there is a specific reason to what gifts I gave you," she said, gaining their full attention. "Arthur, the reason why you had so much trouble with your magic is because the black and white magic in you were in conflict. Thus, you couldn't access your full potential. I used my magic to put the two warring side to peace, and I gave you full access to all your magic."

"Dacian, I gave you access to the abilities that vampires posses. Since you are a half vampire, the abilities weren't active, but I activated them for you."

"Lukas, to you, I granted you a magic that was lost in ancient times, the Divine Magic of the Ancient Gods. This magic was lost when the faith in the old gods faltered and died out. It is very tricky to learn, but you seem to have a natural affinity with it."

"Thank you, Amber," the trio said in unison, and the spirit smiled at them.

'I will miss them when it is time to part,' Amber thought as she watched them all laugh that Dacian had told.

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_I finally got tired of avoiding the whole "call your attacks" thing, so you guys finally get to see some named magic action!_

_Like the chapter? Review if you do!_

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	17. Epilogue

_Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

* * *

It was time for them to part ways. Amber was sad to see their group split up, but she knew that it was inevitable. She had made them promise that they would write. When Dacian asked how they would send letters to her and receive them from her, she said that the fairies could help with that.

Arthur had decided to return to the walled-in village that they had passed through and help Francis and Francis's daughters. He had sent a letter in advanced and had received a nice reply. Francis was happy that a traveler that hadn't spent a lot of time with them wanted to help them out and welcomed him with open arms. Francis had also written that he didn't mind if he made the moves on his more hyper daughter; it'd mean that Arthur would have more of a reason to stay. This had caused Arthur to blush red and nearly rip the letter in two.

Dacian was setting out to help the better the relationship between spirits and humans. A couple of the villagers had decided to help him out with that, so they were traveling with him.

Lukas had decided to head north to practice his newly acquired magic. When Dacian had asked him why he was heading north, Lukas had said that there were less people up there. He added, later on when he was telling it to Amber, that he had always wanted to go north.

Ludwig was to travel out west with the people who had been Rourke's prisoner – minus Gilbert, Elizabeta, Lily, and Chris. He was going to help them find their families, and then he was going to go find his own path to follow.

Gilbert and Elizabeta were planning to head back to Gilbert's home. Gilbert had proposed to Elizabeta after they had been rescued, and they were planning to get married back home. Elizabeta was looking forward to being able to spend time with Gilbert.

Amber's path took her out to the east. She had been planning on heading there for awhile, even before she had run into Arthur, Dacian, and Lukas. She knew that she would miss them.

"Goodbye," she said as the different groups disappeared out of sight, "and farewell. I doubt that I will see you ever again. It is the nature of the role I play. I am the Wanderer. I am tied to no place, and I must keep my distance from society. I will live on even as you die, and I will pass who I am onto the next Wanderer."

And thus, dear reader, ends our tale of a trio of mages searching for the truth. Each person took their own path, paths that are not always intertwined, and those paths led them to where they are now.

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_This is the last chapter, besides the omakes. *cries* It's over. Though, I am happy with how it turned out._

_There is a poll on my profile. The poll asks whether or not I should continue this story. I will close it 8/18/2013._

_Thanks for reading!_

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


	18. Omakes

_Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia. Himaruya does._

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The Reason Why Arthur Doesn't Keep Flowers on His Bedside Table

It was a normal morning for Lukas. He had gotten up, kicked Dacian out of his bed and onto the floor, and had sent the black magic user to Arthur's room to wake him it. It was the middle of winter, and the three of them were stuck in some random village. He found this an annoying setback in their search for the Wanderer.

Lukas was calmly cooking breakfast when he realized something. He hadn't heard Arthur's nor Dacian's voices. He sighed. 'Looks like Dacian forgot to do his job,' he thought as he set the breakfast on the table and quietly made his way over to Arthur's bedroom. He quietly opened the door and had to resist from face palming upon seeing what had happened.

Instead of waking up Arthur, Dacian had curled on the floor and gone back to bed. Lukas walked over to Dacian and jabbed him harshly in the side with his foot. Dacian groaned in pain and rolled over onto his side before leaping up to face Lukas.

"The hell was that for?" he asked, rather calm for someone who had just been jabbed in the side with a blunt object.

"You were supposed to wake Arthur," Lukas replied, emotionless as ever. Though, inside, he was smirking.

"He put a sleep spell up near his bed. I got caught in it," Dacian said, looking off to the side in shame.

"I guess it's my turn to try to wake him," the elemental magic user said before walking up to Arthur's bedside.

Arthur was enjoying his dream when he was awoken by a feeling of being drenched with water. He sat up suddenly.

"Who's there? What the hell is going on?" he said, groping around his sword before he realized something. Dacian was staring at him and cracking up while Lukas was carrying a vase of flowers out of the room. "Where are you going Lukas?" he inquired.

"I need to give the flowers fresh water," he said before disappearing around the corner.

"Did he just pour the water from the flowers on me?" Arthur asked Dacian with a horrified expression on his face. Dacian nodded, still laughing.

That was the day that Arthur decided to keep his flowers away from his bed.

Tripping during Trips

As the trio was traveling with Amber out of the forest, something unexpected happened. Amber tripped over a tree root and landed on her face. Dacian burst out laughing, Arthur tried to keep a straight face, and Lukas went to help Amber up.

"I hate tripping during trips," Amber said calmly, causing Dacian to laugh harder, Arthur to burst out laughing, and Lukas to shake his head at his companions.

"Silly," was Lukas's only comment as they continued on the path towards the village.

Of Pillows and Plans

"Since we are going to be leaving tomorrow, it's time for us to go to be," Amber said, coming out of the bathroom in a nightgown.

"Hell no! I'm not tired at all!" Dacian exclaimed. As soon as the words had left his mouth, a pillow came out of nowhere and hit him in the face. "Okay, who threw that?" he asked, glaring at the others in the room.

"I did," Lukas calmly stated, tossing another pillow at the strawberry blonde. This time, Dacian caught it.

"Oh, it's on! Pillow fight!" he exclaimed and pillows went flying. Dacian had thrown the pillow at Arthur, who threw it at Lukas. Lukas caught the pillow and threw it right back at Arthur. Amber laughed as she watched the three of them battle it out with pillows.

"You better not ruin the pillows. If you do, you're paying for it," Amber said, smiling at the others while she went to go read the map and plan out their route.

In the end, the trio of mages had fallen asleep after an epic pillow fight. Amber smiled at them and moved them to their beds with her magic.

"Sleep well," she whisper to them before she fell asleep on her own bed.

The Reason Why Arthur Doesn't Keep Flowers on His Bedside Table: Part #2

Arthur woke in the morning with a scream. He was soaking wet. He glared at Dacian and Amber, who had burst out laughing.

"Who did that?" he asked in a dangerously quiet voice.

"You wouldn't wake," was Lukas's only response as he went to get the vase of flowers some more water.

"Where'd you get the flowers?" Arthur inquired.

"Your bedside table. You should have learned from the last time," came Lukas's voice from the bathroom.

"Damn you." After that, Arthur made sure to check that the flowers in the room he stayed in were nowhere near him or Lukas.

Tricky Trips

The second time Amber tripped; she hit the ground, did a forward roll, and stood back up.

"I'll give you something if you can do something different every time you trip," Dacian said.

"Deal," Amber replied, shaking Dacian's hand while smirking. Dacian didn't realize at the time just how much money he would lose to her.

Uhh... Awkward…

When Amelia walked into the travelers' room, she did not expect to find one of them without his shirt on.

"Ack! What are you doing here?" Arthur exclaimed, surprised. Amelia brushed a brilliant shade of red before replying.

"Sorry. I am so sorry," she said before running. She was mortified that she had walked in on a man without a shirt on, but, then again, he was a good looking guy.

The Reason Why Arthur Doesn't Keep Flowers on His Bedside Table: Part #3

Madeleine was sent to the travelers' room to wake them up. She was surprised to find Amber and Lukas up. Both of them were reading.

"Hello, Madeleine. Come to wake us up?" Amber asked, bookmarking her page before she closed her book. Madeleine nodded her head. Madeleine woke Dacian first, who grumbled about being woken up.

"Dacian, the more you grumble, the more we ignore you," Madeleine commented as she tried to wake Arthur up.

"Need help waking him?" Lukas asked, closing his book.

"Yes please," Madeleine commented. She raised an eyebrow when Lukas used his magic to splash Arthur with the water in the flower vase on Arthur's bedside table. He was up in an instant.

"DAMN YOU, LUKAS! I TOLD YOU TO STOP DOING THAT!" Arthur yelled over Dacian's laughter, Amber's snickers, and Madeleine's giggles.

"You never told me to stop," Lukas said, picking up the flower vase. He disappeared into the bathroom to refill the vase with water.

"Really? I could have… You know what, never mind," Arthur said, grumbling under his breath about annoying elemental mages.

Why Gilbert Isn't Allowed to Say Goodbye Without His Girlfriend Fiancé

"Goodbye, all of you! Never forget the awesome me!" Gilbert said, waving goodbye to the departing parties. The next thing everybody heard was the sound of a frying pan hitting human flesh. Gilbert went down hold him head.

"That is what happens when you leave me behind with all your stuff," Elizabeta said, holding a frying pan in her hand.

"Damn you," Gilbert managed out as he whimpered in pain. Elizabeta glared at him, and Gilbert shut up. The others wondered how Gilbert managed not to die, with the way the two of them interacted.

* * *

_That, my dear readers, is the end of this lovely fanfic! _

_On a related note, the poll with close on 8/18/13._

_Thanks for reading!_

_~xXDarkDiaXx_


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